That said, the offer for being a Champion was then given to those....
willing to take it.
It isn't like that by having more than one Champion in the Pyramid will
hurt things more..... actually. The impending disaster would happen almost
as quickly even if everyone was a Champion as if nobody else besides Joan
2 remained the only Champion in the line to be assimilated by the book
for whatever it planned.
Now, understand, not all of those present are exactly jumping to take
up this opportunity after the Rule and Agent tell them just what
exactly being a Champion entails. Things like outliving other non-Champions,
including those you know and love. Things like not being able to return
to their homes.
Why? Well, mostly it's the reasons given above. However, one Fred summed
it up this way for those who wish to stay....mortal.
"Well, if we can't return home then how can we complete our quests to
kill the dragon in our quest?" he asks simply.
That was still an important deal, after all. And perhaps not all dragons
were evil, but there still were dragons ravaging the countryside of their
various Allarias, after all. And while their chances to returning to complete
their quests might be small, they weren't non-existent. In each and every
books chronicling their and other lives there was, in the preface, a strange
series of text that one Fred recognized as some type of Altantian coordinate
system that seemed to be a possible lead to their home! Hopefully, this
"Vincent" fellow can use that information to get them home!
So, that said, lets turn to those who decided to take the plunge, eh?
Thelma 2 (who' knows that she'd gotten duplicated because she got duplicated
when she saw herself in the images shown by the Rule) decided to take the
plunge because.....well, how often does a woman get a chance to serve,
directly, the Higher powers that be for the purpose of good and all that?
Besides, something about the whole of it was....exciting. Besides, the
Rule had settled one burning question by telling her that she had no real
past. Rather, she had been born fully formed, a Minervan.. That is, the
previous owner had died in a magical mishap and her spirit had been placed
inside. Since she'd seen (and felt) her other sisters in the Rules images
(and somehow known that they'd also become Champions as well) decided to
become a Champion also.
Since Demifox Astra and Demifox Fred now felt that returning to humans
was.....undesirable and felt that their children were fine as demifox kits,
decided to go one more step and join up withthis strange family that Fred
the Manfox belong to. It was just so appealing somehow. Besides, their
quest to kill their dragon was over and done with. The Rule had
even been kind enough, after revealing the fact that their Synizn
was actually a good guy and all that (as well as their now dead
Malachi) that one favor was possible in exchange for becoming Champions
Something like this was still within the realms of what the Rule was
allowed to do.
Back on a parallel world that two demifoxes hale from, a werebear is
walking in the woods near Walants, grumbling about the recent happenings
in the city....when he suddenly finds himself in full dragon form....and
the curse of lycanthropy he'd been suffering under lifted!
"Tiamat's blood!" he whispers relevantly, shocked.
He then notices that the town guard seems rather agitated suddenly finding
a dragon poking it's head through the trees nearby....and he decides to
"beat feet" in order to calm the poor humans.....
As for Astra 5b, she sees her future in following Jarlath so becomes
a Champion and where this Astra go, her Fred shall follow! And Rowena 3
being Rowena, she's not going to be left out, period!
As for the Champions who got duplicated, they don't try to talk their
way out of being Champions. Though they weren't expecting to get duplicated
like they had, it was no real reason to try to back out now!
So, the list of those who are the "old" Champions in the Pyramid: Jarlath
2, Astra 9a, Annafrid 2, Joan 2, Andrea 2a, Fred the Manfox, Alicia the
Shefox, and Alicia 3 the Shefox.
As for the new Champions who just joined up here, here is their list:
Fred 5b, Astra 5b, Rowena 3, Demifox Fred, and Demifox Astra.
"Well now," Fred the Manfox says, smiling. "It's been ten years since
any Champion has been on a quest of any time, and now it looks like it's
time in spades! So we need to somehow get out of this pyramid. Are any
of the other Champions on other Quests as well? We seem to have"
The fact that there were three groups of Champions set on doing the
same thing (neutralizing the Red Pyramid) was worrisome to the manfox,
but the Manimal Packleader tended to try not to dwell overly much on the
odds (tends to paralyze a person if they do that).
Anyway, the manimal doesn't really expect the answer to be yes and blinks
when told of Queen Astra's quest to get a certain Gunslinger to the Dark
Tower.
"I took the liberty of putting the latest e-mails your companions
have been trading around," Rule 1 says before disappearing along with Agent
1, "Concerning that and the other new family members. There is quiet a
list of new family members."
-
"Just as
a courtesy and all that. Good luck, Champions!" he says at the last as
he finally fades, "Wish we could help more, directly, like dragging you
out of here, but......"
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